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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Medea say about the value of being clever?
(a) That it is the most important skill to get by in life and survive in a strange land.
(b) That it hasn't helped her very much, earning her enemies rather than friends.
(c) That it is on par with being moral, and only matters in the eye of the beholder.
(d) That it is something women learn from birth in order to survive the men they meet.

2. What does the chorus do when they learn of Medea's plans for revenge?
(a) Send someone to warn the King.
(b) Protest that she is out of her mind.
(c) Argue with Medea about her plans.
(d) Promise to keep them secret.

3. What does Medea think about the way women are treated by men in Greece?
(a) They are treated very badly in general.
(b) They are treated worse than slaves.
(c) They are treated with the same tolerance as children.
(d) They are treated well enough.

4. How did Medea save Jason's life?
(a) She killed a traitor among his men that was plotting his death.
(b) She discovered a leak aboard the Argo that could have drowned him.
(c) She enabled him to get the Golden Fleece and escape alive.
(d) She convinced him to stop adventuring away from home.

5. When did Medea kill for Jason?
(a) Aboard the Argo when they were attacked by sirens.
(b) Just before their first child was born.
(c) Several times throughout their marriage.
(d) When he was trying to escape with the Golden Fleece.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Jason offer Medea towards the end of their argument?

2. What theme, central to the play, does the chorus frequently reiterate?

3. Who does Medea curse when she hears the news about the plans for her and her children?

4. What is the name of Jason's ship?

5. Why does Medea feel immigrant women need to work particularly hard?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you think Medea gains or loses sympathy during her scene with the messenger? Why?

2. Does Jason's sudden concern for his children in the final scene seem consistent with the rest of the play? Why or why not?

3. Medea is clearly a very proud character, so what do you think motivates her to beg Creon on her knees for more time before being forced into exile?

4. Why does Aegeus say Medea must make it to his kingdom on her own?

5. What makes Medea's comment about Jason living as a nobody particularly cutting?

6. Why would people want to harm the children for Medea's crimes?

7. Medea comments that the only thing stronger than her sorrow is her fury. Is the author making a point here about women in general, or is this merely the character affirming the decision she has made?

8. Given that the audience would typically know the story before going to a play, why do you think the author chose to begin the play with heavy exposition?

9. Does the descriptions of the poison's effect lend credence to the idea that it was magical in nature?

10. How does the King of Corinth model the theme of selfishness that Euripides introduces in the first scene?

(see the answer keys)

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